Mamá Papaya FilmSparks Fellows Screening

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Ajuawak Kapashesit is an Ojibwe, Cree, and Jewish actor, writer, producer, and director for stage and screen. His acting credits include Indian Horse (2017), Once Upon a River (2019), Indian Road Trip (2020), Bad Blood (2017–2018), and Outlander (2014–2026). In 2024, he voiced Han Solo in Anangong Miigaadiing, the Ojibwe language dub of Star Wars: A New Hope. As a filmmaker, his films have been supported by Firelight Media, CAAM, PBS, and the Sundance Institute. He is an alumnus of the CBC Actors Conservatory at the Canadian Film Centre, a Vision Maker Media Shorts Fellow, a 4th World Indigenous Media Fellow, a Mamá Papaya FilmSparks Fellow, and a participant in the imagineNATIVE Indigenous Series Lab.

Murray is a Caribbean-American writer-director born and raised in Harlem and now based in Minneapolis. A burning desire to capture the beauty, complexity, and possibilities of Black life through genre filmmaking (thriller, horror, action/adventure, sci-fi) drives their work. As a professional screenwriter, M. has developed projects with Netflix and FX Networks. They are a former Tribeca Film Fellow (YEAR), Sundance Ignite Fellow (2015), and Women In Film INSIGHT Fellow (2018). Recently, they earned a place on Out In Hollywood’s Out Loud Writers List. Currently, they are shaping a fun action-thriller feature script based on their coming-of-age experience in New York City, which they will also direct.

Rio Pérez is a Venezuelan photographer and filmmaker raised in Mni Sota Makoce. As an artist, they use photo, film, and collage to tell stories about their family, diasporic experiences, and the simultaneous fragmentation and joy of being a queer Latine. Rio studied art, film, and visual studies at Harvard University, focusing on contemporary Latine and Latin American visual art. Having worked as an educator at the primary, secondary, and post-secondary levels, their professional goal is to co-create affirming community art spaces and increase arts access for BIPOC and queer youth. Rio’s work has been featured at the Clues Art Gallery, Curiosity Studio, the Catherine G. Murphy Gallery, and Serpentina Arts’ Viewfinders/Miradores exhibition. They fell back in love with writing and filmmaking as part of Mamá Papaya StorySeeds and FilmSparks fellowships. 

Devin Newby is a Black, gay oil painter and filmmaker born and raised in small-town Wisconsin; he is now living in Minneapolis. His work explores the human experiences of grief, love, and other universal emotions through vivid colors and emotional clarity. 

Mamá Papaya is an immigrant-led nonprofit organization dedicated to nurturing and cultivating underserved filmmakers and storytellers in Minnesota. Their fellowships engage filmmakers and their communities in a transformative process that fosters deep connections, skill development, and meaningful dialogues. They support the visionary fellows of their programs in creating groundbreaking short films and scripts. Mamá Papaya fellowships serve as incubators for emerging voices and help to launch sustainable, long-term careers in filmmaking. Their values are care, joy, and community-rooted processes that foster long-lasting relationships. Mamá Papaya is also proud to co-present the Cinefilmu Film Festival.